An irrigation system is a system that delivers fluids for a predetermined amount of time and to a predetermined body part/patient in need.
The present invention provides a constant flow of fluid. Such an irrigation system is useful in practically every procedure currently known. Irrigation system are used on patients in the OR (operating rooms), in ER (emergency rooms), in intensive care, in recovery rooms post surgery, and on patients who are admitted in hospital or clinics.
Irrigation is needed in different types medical procedures and operations and while using different types of fluids.
Many kinds of irrigation fluid are used, including, among others, blood, glycine, water, plasma, saline, plasma, drugs.
For example, procedures may require irrigation of oxygen; anesthetic gas for use as local anesthesia, regional anesthesia and general anesthesia selected from ethers, halogenated ethers, desflurane (2,2,2-trifluoro-1-fluoroethyl-difluoromethyl ether, sevoflurane (2,2,2-trifluoro-1[trifluoromethyl]ethyl fluoromethyl ether), and isoflurane (2-chloro-2-(difluoromethoxy)-1,1,1-trifluoro-ethane); blood; saline; glycine; water; plasma; medicament and any combination thereof.
The following give a few examples of procedures in which glycine, saline, medicaments, or any combinations thereof are required as the irrigation fluid.
Many medical procedures such as TURP (transurethral prostatic resection), PCNL, uteroscopy, hysteroscopy etc, require a constant flow of fluid such as saline or glycine in order to wash away blood and resected tissue and to maintain the temperature of the tissue and of the surgical instrument.
In, for example, TURP surgery (Transurethral Resection of the Prostate), the surgeon inserts a Resectoscope into the urethra. The Resectoscope allows the surgeon to see the enlarged prostate gland and to remove a small piece of the prostate gland tissue using the resectoscope's electrical cutting loop.
TURP is a non-invasive surgery that requires a continuous flow of solution (e.g., glycine) to the prostate and bladder and out through the Resectoscope.
The Continuous Irrigation enables the surgeon to:
    1. Increase the volume of the prostate & bladder (building a surgical site);    2. Clean blood flow from the prostate; and,    3. Clean resected tissue from the prostate    4. Cool the prostate, removing the heat caused by the electrical cutting loop.
Any discontinuation of the supply of solution immediately results in a drop in the fluid pressure and thus, a “collapse” of the prostate and bladder, accumulation of blood that eventually blocks the surgical view (surgical site), and the accumulation of blood clots, which can stop the surgery and all of which increase the patient's risks.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a continuous flow of solution.
The irrigation fluid is generally provided from one or more containers (e.g. solution bags) positioned above the level of the operating table. Fluid flows from the containers through a tube (e.g. disposable Y type set) under gravity to the patient. Each container supplies flow for approximately 10 minutes, then it needs to be manually replaced. These manual procedures suffer from problems such as a high dependence on the medical personal who must notice that the container needs replacing and who must replace the solution bag on time, the limitation of the flow rate, and a lack of means of informing the operators that the solution has run out or is about to run out
A fully automated system, in which a new container is opened as an old one empties in a fully automated manner without the need of human intervention and in which a notification can be provided to the operator when the solution has run out or if there is a system failure, thus remains a long-felt need.